A MAN said to have a grudge against a council has been convicted of being the author of ‘poison pen’ threatening letters, one sent to a police chief.

Political blogger David Lindsay was told to “be careful” about his online activity in coming weeks before he returns to court to be sentenced in the case.

The warning came from Judge James Adkin after adjourning sentence on the defendant for a month to allow for preparation of background reports on him by the Probation Service and a psychiatric assessment.

It followed unanimous guilty verdicts returned by the jury to both counts faced by Lindsay at the end of the fourth day of his trial at Durham Crown Court.

He denied both sending a letter with intent to cause distress anxiety, and doing an act or acts tending or intended to pervert the course of justice.

The court was told Lindsay had, “a bee in his bonnet” over Durham County Council’s decision to stage a review into the terms and conditions of teaching assistants.

His own mother was a teaching assistant and he joined a campaign in support of their cause.

But he was also accused of being responsible for a letter sent to Durham’s then Chief Constable, Mike Barton, in February 2017, “putting a price on the heads” of 57 named Labour members of the county council who voted in favour of the review.

His fingerprints were found on the envelope.

Faced with a trial over the sending of that letter he was then said to have asked a fellow blogger in the US to send warning letters, first to himself, and then to two clergymen in his home village of Lanchester.

It led to the trial being aborted as inquiries were staged to check their source.

Despite denying being the instigator of them, the jury did not believe his account and returned their verdicts after only an hour deliberation.

Bailing the 42-year-old defendant, 42, of Foxhill Crescent, Lanchester, to return for sentence on April 3, Judge Adkin said all sentencing options remain open.

He told defence counsel Chris Morrison: “It’s very much in the defendant’s interests to be careful what he puts out on the world-wide web before he comes back to court for sentence.

“Do you get my meaning?”

Judge Adkin told Lindsay he should not read anything into the granting of bail.

He added, how he “behaves” between now and sentence, “and what you put out on the internet and what you don’t”, may have a bearing on the outcome.